Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ Losing interest

[northicehero99]

So my dilema if you want to call it is that I have started to lose interest in collecting cards. For me the hobby has become more about what it is worth and who is hot now, than about actually collecting. No offense to anyone, but in some ways I think it was funner in the early 1990s just building sets for the set and overproduced rookies. Every once in a while a set will catch my interest, but with hockey they don't produce too many of those "Ginter" type sets. The Champs sets were fun, never did finish 08-09 as the boxes went crazy in price, and have some parallels on the 09-10 to work on, but never was really a "master" set builder. I mainly focus on the main set, then whatever inserts I get is what I get and if I am close or inspired I might chase them, with 09-10 Champs I got inspired to try to finish the GU and colored parallels, but have fallen behind on this quest.

Another factor in me losing interest is that hockey has gone back to the single manufacturer exclusive deal again with UD being the only manufacturer with an NHL license. That era wasn't as fun for me as UD very rarely pushes the envelope, even with competition the last 5 years they were lazy rehashing the same dreck IMO. A few decent products or changes here and there like OPC, Champs, and the Canvas parallels, but overall most of the same tired and true concepts and when they have gotten a new idea they run it for several years (Canvas parallels) until you are sick of seeing it.

The final factor is just a lack of space and the devaluation of what I spent good money on, this goes back to my who is hot now reference. I have so many boxes of "sets" that take up too much space and while I enjoyed building them, they are just sitting in boxes in a closet, so what was the purpose? I mean the stuff I really liked I put in pages and I have over two dozen binders of my "favorites", but beyond those the other stuff barely ever catches the light of day, so what was the purpose? The GU that I have and tried selling you are lucky to get a $1-2 and even then not much interest except for the rare exception of a patch or auto of a star player or local favorite. Extra sets I couldn't give away at the last show I did, I sold a few to die hard collectors like myself, but other stuff there was no interest. So was collecting this stuff over the last 25 years worth it?

I am not quiting the hobby, but what are your thoughts? Do you feel the same?

[sasports]

I feel the hobby has made several changes for the worst, but I feel like we, the collectors, are to blame. Very few people collect just to collect any more. Its about how much can I get. That's why I started my Free Kids Cards initiative when I was setting up my shop. When I go to the flea market or even if I just see a kid looking at cards at walmart. I make sure to give kids cards to try to get them back into collecting.

Cards are like most collectibles, the industry will rise and fall, but 100 years from now, cards will still be a hobby.

[urbanmonk]

I think everyone goes thru that at some point in the Hobby, they either get out of it for awhile (or never come back) or they just narrow their focus a little tighter each time. It is getting quite similar to the damage to the Hobby from the overproduced 90s, as granted maybe not the same production numbers for products coming out but the sheer number of GUs and AUs for each player doesn't help the values at all. I mean a Gretzky AU or GU doesn't sell for what it used to 10 years ago, which I feel is due to the sheer number of them out there now, same can be said for Mario etc.... as the more out there the less demand for them. The exclusive bothers me too, and the blame falls on UD for letting products get stale, Panini has one for NFL now in 2016 (pretty sure they have NBA locked up too) and my guess is they will stay on their game of trying new things and keeping things fresh, not sure where that leaves Topps/Bowman except for Baseball and TV/Gaming cards. Like Shawn said too many not into it for a Hobby anymore and more folks trying to flip the cards as a business, but it gets harder to put time/money into a Hobby if the stuff is practically worthless, as getting to where you have the same odds playing lottery scratch its or going to the casino for breaking even or coming out slightly ahead buying a box of product. I don't foresee this Hobby going the way of Stamp Collecting in example, but it has the chance of it if it doesn't have new blood coming into it. We have gotten spoiled with all the "hits" in the boxes and folks wouldn't spend the same money I feel if they made it tougher odds like the 90s and went back to inserts kind of thing, as doing so could kill the Hobby also instead of keeping values up.

[sasports]

Honestly, I enjoy getting inserts, serial numbered, and parallels more than "Hits" most of the time because they look nicer.

[captkirk42]

I think Dwight and Shawn nailed it with the "everybody is in it for the quick flip" attitude now.

I still collect for collecting sake and usually what I like/want at the time. I too sometimes get the "why bother" attitude of collecting. Sometimes I even get into self metaphysical and all cosmic philosophy materialistic vs. spiritual sort of debate about it. Then I wander over to something else to do or think about for some time.

[maple19]

I used to have a closet full of sets from the 70 to 90 I broke them up and only took the leafs and blue jays out sold or traded all the rest of the cards or gave them away that I could not sell

To me hobby does not matter who makes the card As long as there is the Maple Leafs or Blue Jays and Canadian sport stars on cards I will collect them

I trying to collect a AU & GU from every leaf or bluejay player that has cards out there

Over the last 20 years I have donate at least 100,000 cards the year I moved from a 3 bedroom house to a 1 bedroom Apt I donated a lot just to get rid of them as had no room for them

What I don't understand is you collect a team. a player gets traded and you want to get rid of all his cards why he got your team sweater on if leafs get a new player I wait to collect him as a leaf on the cards

panini can still do hockey just like ITG does I think panini is doing baseball like that now as I got cards from them with no logos or team names on them

[aceecards]

i collect because its my hobby.

I have never flipped!

take a break and come back refreshed!

[captkirk42]

What I don't understand is you collect a team. a player gets traded and you want to get rid of all his cards why he got your team sweater on if leafs get a new player I wait to collect him as a leaf on the cards

I don't understand that either. I guess they are just "current lineup" team collectors.

For me, with the exception of many of my childhood PC players (I have a ton of them from any and every team), I would first collect the player when he was on my team. If he is a vet and I really like him I'll hunt for his older cards on his former team, when he gets traded away I still collect him even in his new team unis. I guess I am primarily a SET collector, then Homie Team, Then PC players. Well sometimes the PC players have priority over homie team.

[northicehero99]

What I don't understand  is you collect a team. a player gets traded and you want to get rid of all his cards why he got your team sweater on  if leafs get a new player I wait to collect him as a leaf on the cards

panini can still  do hockey just like ITG does I think panini is doing baseball like that now as I got cards from them with no logos or team names on them

I still collect former players for the most part, but try to focus on the here and now. As for Panini making a hockey product, I think the avoided that during the last exclusive contract to avoid not getting the license that just expired, I think with Baseball they have no chance of getting a license. So not sure they will produce stuff like ITG.

i collect because its my hobby.

I have never flipped!

take a break and come back refreshed!

Sort of have been doing that for 8 months stopped in the new year and did not buy any boxes until a few weeks ago. Gonna pick and choose for a little while or maybe just go dry for another few months and see what UD S1 has to offer.

[chopinalex]

I go through this every so often. That why I started to collect my parallel sets of previous years. I do not want to pay full price for boxes that the cards will drop in value overnite. So parallel sets are challenging and not very expensive. The most fun part is actually searching for the cards I need.

[aceecards]

As many of you know I don't spend 99% of what I used to .

Yeah I got some nice stuff from back then..

but.. as I stated in the gigantic two part post I have a lot of problems with the hobby

[artyman60]

I hear everything being said and can totally relate to it all. The main factor for my 4 - 5 year break starting in 2008 till about 5-6 months ago was life. I got married, bought a home, and proceeded to have kids which all just ate up my card money. I would check in from time to time and see what was going on but just couldn't come back.

So here I am now slowly getting back into it, focusing on my Keith van horn collection and that's it. Just buying up what I can, organizing it when I get a chance and really enjoying a hobby I use to love as a kid.

[sasports]

I hear everything being said and can totally relate to it all. The  main factor for my 4 - 5 year break starting in 2008 till about 5-6 months ago was life. I got married, bought a home, and proceeded to have kids which all just ate up my card money. I would check in from time to time and see what was going on but just couldn't come back.

So here I am now slowly getting back into it, focusing on my Keith van horn collection and that's it. Just buying up what I can, organizing it when I get a chance and really enjoying a hobby I use to love as a kid.

I think you nailed the main problem. LIFE! Lets face it, most of us started collecting as kids. Packs where .99-2.99. It was cheap and fun. Then we grew up, got married, had kids of our own, and had to step away from the Hobby for "life". When we came back, Packs were 2.99-80.00 per pack Some of our favorite sets and brands are gone or changed so drastically that they don't look the way we are used to. The cards we sold back in the day for nothing are now worth something, and the ones we held onto because they were worth something are now worth nothing. Just as we get back into the rhythm of things, BAM! Life happens again. It makes it very hard to keep the passion going.

For me, collecting is like being in love with a good woman. You will have your ups and downs, but in the end you still love her and make the best out of every situation so you don't lose that love. Even when I was homeless, sleeping in the back of my beat up Durango, I ALWAYS kept a box of my favorite cards (at least the ones I didn't have to sell) just so I could stay somewhat close to the hobby. Now I am in love with a great woman, and my passion for cards is growing on her! Share the love and lets get card collecting back to its peak!

[obert22]

For me it was focus. The was a time when I tried to collect everything. I catalogued every card, organized them, sorted them, everything. It started to become WAY too much to keep up with. When I finally made the decision to focus on Red Sox and Bruins players only it became fun again. I could care less about value, cost, etc. I got rid of all my other base cards and have now started to trade my non Red Sox/Bruins hits. The thrill of the hunt is alive and well for me in our group breaks. That's when I feel like that kid that broke open a pack 1989 Upper Deck to see a Ken Griffey Jr and. Roger Clemens card in the same pack.

[northicehero99]

For me it was focus. The was a time when I tried to collect everything. I catalogued every card, organized them, sorted them, everything. It started to become WAY too much to keep up with. When I finally made the decision to focus on Red Sox and Bruins players only it became fun again. I could care less about value, cost, etc. I got rid of all my other base cards and have now started to trade my non Red Sox/Bruins hits. The thrill of the hunt is alive and well for me in our group breaks. That's when I feel like that kid that broke open a pack 1989 Upper Deck to see a Ken Griffey Jr and. Roger Clemens card in the same pack.

Group breaks are fun, but they are hit and miss too. And it is an affordable way to buy products you wouldn't normally buy, but still just not much interest. As an example I love the hits coming out of Prime, however at the price point of $200 a box, I just can't bring myself to spend that kind of money on the hope of hitting some Pens or big rookie and the other side of that is trying to buy singles for a popular team like the Pens can get expensive too. Maybe I am just getting too old for this stuff?

[sasports]

Group breaks are fun, but they are hit and miss too.  And it is an affordable way to buy products you wouldn't normally buy, but still just not much interest.  As an example I love the hits coming out of Prime, however at the price point of $200 a box, I just can't bring myself to spend that kind of money on the hope of hitting some Pens or big rookie and the other side of that is trying to buy singles for a popular team like the Pens can get expensive too.  Maybe I am just getting too old for this stuff? 

NEVER!. I will be collecting till the day I die

[5toosweet]

Honestly, I enjoy getting inserts, serial numbered, and parallels more than "Hits" most of the time because they look nicer.

I agree.

For me it was focus. The was a time when I tried to collect everything. I catalogued every card, organized them, sorted them, everything. It started to become WAY too much to keep up with. When I finally made the decision to focus on Red Sox and Bruins players only it became fun again. I could care less about value, cost, etc. I got rid of all my other base cards and have now started to trade my non Red Sox/Bruins hits. The thrill of the hunt is alive and well for me in our group breaks. That's when I feel like that kid that broke open a pack 1989 Upper Deck to see a Ken Griffey Jr and. Roger Clemens card in the same pack.

Im focusing more on PC rather than trying to get value out of packs and boxes I bust. At this time Im selling off all my base and insert cards I have collected over the years in team lots. They just take up too much space. Since Bagwell has been included in 2014 products it has sparked my PC focus x100. I recently started to super collect Paul Goldschmidt since all my other supercollections are now retired players(the other is Vladimir Guerrero). In all the group breaks Im part of I own or try to own all the teams with my PC players. Its more gratifying when a PC player insert is pulled rather than a GU card of another player of the same value.

[SinatraKing]

When I took a step back from the hobby it was due to the cost factor, and that my daughter was about to enter this world and my life. I could not afford to support a new baby, and my card collecting habit, however, the collecting itch still.......well.........needed to be scratched. So I turned to another item to collect. Custom Signature Guitar picks had been something I noticed, and picked up from behind the barricade while working. They are fun, usually have a fun design, the band name, or a signature of the player. Because of this, they were much like cards to me. I have a buddy who was deep into the hobby, so I started inquiring about certain picks, how to trade, etc. I found some Facebook pages with other collectors, and began trading. I started asking guitar techs for picks at shows, and found that some of them also trade, and collect picks. Just the other night after the 311/Dirty Heads show, I sat with a tech and traded picks. We started talking about how they are like sports cards, but for musicians. Then one of the artists came walking by, asking what we were doing. We jokingly said, trading musician baseball cards. He laughed.

Anyway, my point is, when you feel "burned out" switch up your interest. Try another sport, or entertainment cards. Maybe stamps, or coins, or if you go to any concerts, guitar picks. Cause if you all are like me, the "itch" will always be there.

[chopinalex]

Your one of the alligators of this site..you survived many apocolypse since 06/07..if you leave the hobby then you might kill the universe..

[northicehero99]

Your one of the alligators of this site..you survived many apocolypse since 06/07..if you leave the hobby then you might kill the universe..

I think there are way too many others out there trying to kill the universe. I will leave it up to them.